JPH0977330A - Sheet sorting device, and picture image forming device provided with the sheet sorting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the abnormal matching of sheets by delaying a moving speed in drawing the plural sheets from a bin when the loading numbers of plural sheets, loaded on the bin, are many, or, when a loading direction length is long. SOLUTION: The tip part right ends of plural sheets S, loaded on a bin, are nipped by a first-in gripper 10 from the insides and outsides of the tip parts to be moved rightward to be bound by a stapler 11; and then the tip parts are nipped from both the insides and outsides of the tip parts by a carrying gripper 12 to be carried rightward. When the loading number of the sheets S on the bin exceeds a given number, or a sheet size is larger (e.g. A3 lateral and B4 lateral), the moving speeds of both the grippers 10 and 12 are delayed to prevent sheet slippage.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet sorting apparatus for appropriately sorting a plurality of sheets and an image forming apparatus equipped with the sheet sorting apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, a sheet classifying apparatus or a stapling apparatus as a sheet processing apparatus is attached to a main body of the image forming apparatus to form an image forming apparatus as a whole. .

Regarding copying by this image forming apparatus,
For example, a case will be described as an example where the above-described sheet sorting apparatus has 12 sheet trays (hereinafter referred to as “bins”) and staples 20 copies of printed matter having 15 pages on each side.

The number of copies is 20, while the number of copies is 12
Since it is a sheet, first, print out 12 copies, and then print out 8 copies. That is, first, 2 on each of the 12 bins.
Stack the sheets with the 0th page copied, then 1
The 9th page and the 18th page are stacked in order, and by finally stacking the sheets on which the 1st page is copied, the 20th page and the 12th copy are completed, and then the sheet bundle on each bin is placed in the front and back direction. The sheet is sandwiched by a gripper (moving means), moved laterally, pulled out from the bin, and stapled for each sheet bundle by a stapling device to produce 12 copies of printed matter. Subsequently, the same work is performed on the remaining 8 copies, so that a total of 20 copies of the stapled printed matter can be obtained.

According to the above-mentioned image forming apparatus, 2
The stapling operation cannot be performed until the copying of 0 pages and 12 copies is completed, and the remaining 8 copies cannot be performed during the stapling operation. After the printed matter of 12 copies is taken out from the top, the copying of the remaining 8 copies is restarted, and there is a problem that the entire working time becomes long.

In order to solve this problem, it is known that the bin is divided into two units of 6 sheets each, and the sheets are classified and stapled for each unit.

According to this, in the same example as described above, the stapling operation for these copies can be started when the copying of 20 pages and 6 copies is completed in one unit, and even during the stapling operation, the copying and It is possible to sort the sheets in the other unit. Therefore, if the printed material for which the stapling work of one unit is completed is taken out before the copying and the sheet classification for the other unit are completed, the sheet classification for the one unit is performed immediately after the completion of the other sheet classification. It can be carried out. That is, it is possible to endlessly obtain a large number of printed materials without interruption of copying or classification of sheets.

[0008]

However, in order to obtain a large number of copies without interrupting copying or classification of sheets by the above-described sheet sorting apparatus, before the sheet sorting for one unit is completed. First, the movement of the sheets on each bin by the gripper in the other unit and the stapling work by the stapling device need to be completed, and the movement of the sheets on the bin and the stapling work must be done early and in a short time.

By the way, when a large number of sheets are stacked on the bin or when the length of the sheets in the stacking direction is long (for example, A
3 sideways, B4 sideways, etc.), the inertial mass of a plurality of sheets becomes large. Therefore, when the gripper that grips and conveys a plurality of sheets from the front and back is accelerated, the gripper is displaced from the center of the sheet in particular. When gripping the
There is a problem that the alignment of a plurality of sheets is broken and tends to be disturbed.

As a basis for solving this problem, in the sheet sorting apparatus described in the prior art, when the number of sheets stacked in the bin is large or the length in the sheet stacking direction is long, one unit is used. There is the fact that it takes longer to sort the sheets against.

Therefore, according to the present invention, when the number of sheets stacked on the sheet receiving member (bin) is large or the length in the sheet stacking direction is long, the moving speed of the sheet on the bin by the moving means (gripper) is set. An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet sorting apparatus which is slowed down so as to eliminate the disturbance of sheets due to movement and an image forming apparatus including the sheet sorting apparatus.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and has a plurality of sheet receiving members and stacks a plurality of sorted sheets on the respective sheet receiving members. In the sheet sorting apparatus, at least two sheet stacking units each having the plurality of sheet receiving members, sheet stacking means for stacking sheets for each of the sheet receiving members, and stacking on each of the sheet receiving members. The number of stacked sheets of the stacked sheets, a moving means for sandwiching a part of the plurality of sheets stacked on each of the sheet receiving members from the front and back directions and pulling out from the sheet receiving members, By controlling the stacking unit and the moving unit, stacking of sheets on the sheet receiving member for each sheet stacking unit,
A control means for pulling out the sheet from the sheet receiving member, wherein the control means moves the moving speed of the moving means when the number of stacked sheets detected by the stacked sheet number detecting means exceeds a predetermined value. It is characterized by slowing down.

In a sheet classifying apparatus having a plurality of sheet receiving members and stacking a plurality of sorted sheets on each of the sheet receiving members, at least two sheet stacking units each having the plurality of sheet receiving members. Sheet stacking means for stacking sheets on each of the sheet receiving members, sheet size detecting means for detecting a length in the stacking direction of the sheets stacked on the sheet receiving members, and each of the sheet receiving members A part of the plurality of sheets stacked on the sheet is sandwiched from the front and back directions and a moving means for pulling out from the sheet receiving member, the sheet stacking means and the moving means are controlled, and A control unit for stacking sheets on the sheet receiving member and pulling out the sheet from the sheet receiving member. Means, if the stacking direction length of the sheet size detection means detects exceeds a predetermined value, slowing the movement speed of said moving means, characterized in that.

In a sheet sorting apparatus having a plurality of sheet receiving members and stacking a plurality of sorted sheets on the respective sheet receiving members, at least two sheet stacking units each having the plurality of sheet receiving members. Sheet stacking means for stacking sheets for each of the sheet receiving members, stacked sheet number detecting means for detecting the number of stacked sheets stacked on each sheet receiving member, and each sheet receiving member Sheet size detecting means for detecting the length of the stacked sheets in the stacking direction, and moving means for sandwiching a part of the plurality of sheets stacked on each of the sheet receiving members from the front and back directions and pulling out from the sheet receiving members. Controlling the sheet stacking means and the moving means so that a sheet for the sheet receiving member is provided for each sheet stacking unit. Control means for performing stacking and withdrawing of sheets from the sheet receiving member, wherein the control means has a stack number detected by the stack number detecting means and a stacking direction length detected by the sheet size detecting means. When there is a predetermined relationship, the moving speed of the moving means is slowed down.

In these cases, there is a thickness detecting means for detecting the thickness of the sheets stacked on the sheet receiving member, and the control means determines the number of stacked sheets based on the output of the thickness detecting means. The predetermined value of may be changed.

Further, the moving means holds a part of the plurality of sheets on the sheet receiving member from the front and back directions and projects the leading end of the sheet from the sheet receiving member; A second moving device that holds a part of the plurality of sheets transferred from the first moving unit in the front-back direction and conveys the sheets may be provided.

Further, it is also possible to have a stapling device for stapling the leading end of the sheet projected from the sheet receiving member by the first moving means.

In addition, it is possible to have a stacking device for stacking the sheets conveyed by the second moving means.

Next, the image forming apparatus comprises a sheet feeding means for feeding the sheet, an image forming means for forming an image on the sheet fed by the sheet feeding means, and the image forming means. The sheet sorting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, which sorts sheets after image formation.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. <First Embodiment> FIG. 1 shows an electrophotographic copying machine (image forming apparatus) 200 as a sheet output device.

The electrophotographic copying machine 200 includes a copying machine main body 20.
1 and an automatic document feeder 2 arranged at the top of the copying machine main body
02 and a sheet processing apparatus 203 disposed on the side of the copying machine main body 201 on which the sheet S is discharged.
The sheet processing apparatus 203 includes a folding device 204 and a stapling / stacking device 205.

Document placing table 20 of automatic document feeder 202
6 are separated in order from the bottom,
Pass 20 on the platen glass 208 of the copying machine body 201
After being read, the sheet is fed by the optical system 210 of the copying machine main body 201, and is discharged from the platen glass 208 through the path 211 to the uppermost surface on the document table 206 after the reading is completed. The sheet S is fed from the deck 212, image-formed by the image forming unit 213, fixed by the fixing unit 214, and generally passes through the folding device 204 to staple / staple.
The sheet is conveyed to the sheet entrance 215 of the stacking device 205.

Here, the image forming process of the copying machine 200, which is the main body of the present invention, is well known in the art and will not be described here. The stapling / stacking device 205 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, each bin module B has an upper bin module (sheet stacking unit) B ₁ and a lower bin module (sheet stacking unit) B ₂ which are vertically divided into two.
₁ and B ₂ are a plurality of bins (sheet receiving members) B ₁₁ to
B _1n , B _{21 to} B _2n (n is an integer, but n in FIGS. 1 and 2
= 6). Each bin module B ₁ , B ₂
Can independently change the bin interval and the bin position and move each bin to the sheet receiving position or the sheet bundle discharging position.

At the sheet entrance 215, the first
A deflector 3 driven by a solenoid SL3 (not shown) that switches between the transport path 1 and the second downward transport path 2.
Thus, the traveling direction of the sheet S is determined. Further, the first transport path 1 is branched into a carry-out path 6 to the non-sort tray 5 and a path 7 to the upper bin module B ₁ by a deflector 4 driven by a solenoid SL4 (not shown).

On the other hand, the second transport path 2 directly serves as a path to the lower bin module B ₂ . Therefore, for each pair of rollers 8a to 8p, non-sort tray 5 f is roller pairs 8a, 8b, 8c, the upper bin module B ₁ f is 8a,
8b, 8d~8g, lower bin module B ₂ f is 8a, 8
It is conveyed by each roller pair of h to 8p.

Further, the stapling / stacking device 205
Has a grip / stapling unit 9 in a space sandwiched between the path 7 to the upper bin module B ₁ and the path ₂ to the lower bin module B _2, and the sheet bundle on each bin is first fed out by the gripper (first 1 and 2 by the moving device) 10, the stapler 11 selectively staples the bundle, and the transport gripper 12 sandwiches the front end of the bundle and further conveys it to the right. Similarly, in the space between the path 7 to the upper bin module B ₁ and the path ₂ to the lower bin module B ₂ , the stack unit 13 stands by below the grip / staple unit 9 and the transport gripper 12 transports it. Store the stacked sheets.

As shown in FIG. 2, the right end of the stapler 11 and the left end of the stack unit 13 are substantially overlapped in the left-right direction (area of width l _{15 in} FIG. 2).

After the bins B _{11 to} B ₁₆ of the upper bin module B ₁ are filled with the sheet bundle, the grip / staple unit 9 is moved to the position shown by the broken line in FIGS. 1 and 2.
While taking out the sheet bundle from the bin, the sheet S is conveyed to the bins B _{21 to} B ₂₆ of the lower bin module B ₂ and
After the bundle is taken out from _{11 to} B ₁₆ and the transportation of the lower bin module B _{2 to} the bins B _{21 to} B ₂₆ is completed, this time, as shown in FIG.
The bundle is taken out from the lower bin module B ₂ at the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. By repeating this operation, copying can be continuously continued until the stack unit 13 becomes full.

Next, the folding device 204 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the folding device 204 can operate according to three modes such as a through-pass mode, a Z-folding mode, and a C-folding mode.

The first through-pass mode is a mode in which the sheet S is passed through without folding operation. In this mode, the folding sheet 251 carried by the pair of inlet rollers 227, 228 is operated by the inlet deflector 229. , The paper path 230, and a pair of paper discharge rollers 231, 23
2 to the stapling / stacking device 205.

The second C-folding mode is, for example, LGL.
The folding sheet 251 (horizontal size) is folded in two to form an LTR (vertical letter size). It is introduced into the folding path 236 by operation.

Thus, as shown in FIG. 34 (a), when the leading end of the folding sheet 251 abuts on the stopper 243, the loop 250 formed in the central portion on the downstream side of the folding sheet 251 forms a folding roller. It is gripped in the nip between 238 and 239, and a folding line 251A is formed in the central portion on the downstream side of the folding sheet 251, as shown in FIG. 34 (b), and becomes a folded sheet. Thus, this 2
The folded folding sheet 251 is then passed
After passing through 40, the sheet is delivered by a pair of discharge rollers 231 and 232.

The third Z-folding mode is the folding sheet 25.
In this mode, 1 is folded in two at a time, and one of them is folded back to the opposite side. First, the pair of inlet rollers 227, 2
28 to the folding sheet 25 by the entrance deflector 229
1 is sent to the path 233. Further, the folding sheet 251 is sent to the path 242 by the deflector 234, and the tip end thereof abuts on the stopper 245. Thus,
Similar to the two-fold mode, a loop is formed in a portion of about 1/4 from the leading end of the folding sheet 251, and the loop is gripped in the nip between the pair of folding rollers 238 and 237 and the fold line 251B. Are formed into a half-folded sheet (FIG. 35 (a)).

Next, the folding sheet 251 thus folded is introduced into the folding path 236, and the fold 251B of the folded sheet 251 for folding is abutted against the stopper 244 and folded in two. A loop is formed in the center of the folded sheet 251 in the same manner as described above, and the loop is held in the nip between the pair of folding rollers 238 and 239 to form the second fold 251C. (FIG.35 (b)). In this way, the Z-folded sheet 251 folded back to the front and back passes through the path 240 and is delivered by the pair of paper ejection rollers 231 and 232.

Next, the grip / staple unit 9 will be described (FIGS. 12 and 13). 12 is a top view of the grip / staple unit 9, and FIG. 13 is a front view.

The overall structure is a frame body in which guide stays 52, 53 and a right stay 54 are arranged between the unit front side plate 50 and the unit rear side plate 51, and two frames are arranged on the left and right sides of the frame body for a total of four frames. The raising / lowering roller 55 of the above is caulked. A member 53a that guides the sheet bundle when the sheet bundle is conveyed is attached to the inner side of the lower guide stay 53. The four rollers 55 are guided in two rails 56 fixed to the main body side. The rack integrally cut with the rail 56 meshes with the pinion gears 58 provided at both ends of the member 57 penetrating in the lateral direction of the frame body.
The driving force from the lifting motor M4 is transmitted to the entire frame body so that it can be moved up and down.

Inside the frame, three moving bodies, that is, a first-out gripper 10, a stapler 11, and a transport gripper 12 are arranged. The first-out gripper 10 is configured to be movable in the direction of the arrow D in FIG. 12, and grips the vicinity of the right end of the sheet bundle S on the bin on the front reference side so as to grip the sheet bundle S.
Pull to the right. The distance l ₄ from the right end of the advance gripper 10 to the leading end of the sheet bundle S is set to be longer than the distance l ₅ from the left end of the stapler 11 to the leading end of the sheet bundle S at the completion of drawing.

The stapler 11 is movable in the direction of arrow E in the figure, and can be moved to a front or rear retracted position that does not overlap the sheet width, or an arbitrary position of the leading end of the sheet bundle.

The transport gripper 12 is movable in the direction of arrow F in FIG. 12, and is also movable in the direction of arrow G in the figure, including the front and rear side plates 59, 60 as a whole. The transport gripper 12 grips a substantially central position of the sheet width according to the size of the sheet bundle in the arrow F direction, transports the sheet bundle in the arrow G direction (right direction in the drawing), and completely transports the sheet bundle from the bin. Is pulled out and conveyed to a stacker described later.

The movement of the transport gripper 12 in the direction of arrow F is
In addition to moving according to the size as described above, it is also performed for the purpose of sorting on the stacker. That is, when the bundle is conveyed to the stacker, the conveyance amount in the arrow G direction depends on the sheet bundle size, but by changing the conveyance amount of the sheet bundle in the F direction, the sheet bundles of the same size can be sorted,
You can sort different jobs.

The depth dimension l ₆ of the transport gripper 12 is set so that the leading edge of the sheet bundle S can be held even when the stapler 11 is operating with respect to the sheet bundle S.

The moving bodies 10, 11, 12 in the grip / staple unit 9 will be described in detail below.

First, the grip portion for sandwiching the sheet bundle will be described. This is a common structure for the first-out gripper 10 and the transport gripper 12 (FIG. 14).

The side plates 62, 62 have three shafts 63, 64,
65 is supported. An upper gripper 66 and a lower gripper 67 are disposed on the shaft 65, and an upper gripper cam 69 fixed to the shaft 64 and a lower gripper cam 68 fixed to the shaft 63 are rotated in the arrow directions, respectively. The swinging in the I direction and the arrow H direction is repeated (solid line and broken line diagrams). Further, the spring member 70 biases the cam portion 67a of the lower gripper 67 to the lower gripper cam 68, and the spring member 71 biases the cam portion 66a of the upper gripper 66 to the upper gripper cam 69, so that the upper gripper 66 and the lower gripper 67 The contact pressure of is controlled so that it is substantially constant. The cams 69 and 68 of the upper / lower grippers are driven by motors M5 (holding the first-out gripper) and M6 (holding the transport gripper) (not shown).

The first-out gripper 10 and the transport gripper 12 have the same basic structure as described above, but the conditions such as the clamping pressure, the width of the gripper, and the maximum opening amount are optimized according to their respective usage conditions. It is set.

For example, in the case of the present embodiment, the first-out gripper 10 holds the width small in terms of space, but clamps only the reference side. Therefore, the clamping pressure is set high to prevent the bundle displacement, and the opening amount is also set. I feel like holding down to enter between the bottles. On the other hand, since the transport gripper 12 can clamp the center of the sheet bundle, it is possible to set the clamping pressure to be low. In addition, curl amount, basis weight, presence or absence of folding,
It can also be generally set depending on the number of sheets and the like.

Next, the drive configuration of the first-out gripper 10 will be described (FIGS. 15 and 16). FIG. 15 is a top view, FIG.
6 is a front view.

A roller 72 having a groove is crimped on the front side surface of the advance gripper 10, and the slot 5 provided in the unit front side plate 50 of the grip / staple unit 9 is caulked.
0a. The elongated hole 50a is formed substantially horizontally on the right side of FIG. 16 near the stapler 11, but on the left side of FIG. 16 near the bin is an elongated hole having an angle according to the inclination of the bin. . The tip of the shaft of the two rollers 72 is
They are connected by a connecting metal plate 73, and a pin member 74 is attached to the metal plate 73.

On the other hand, on the front side of the unit front side plate 50,
The advance motor M7 is attached to the support plate 75,
A swing arm 76 is fixed to the tip of the drive shaft.
A long hole 76a is formed at the other end of the swing arm 76, and the tip end portion of the pin member 74 is engaged with the long hole 76a. By driving the advance motor M7, the swing arm 76 reciprocates between the solid line position and the two-dot chain line position in FIGS. As a result, the first-out gripper 10 grips the sheet bundle along the elongated hole 50a of the unit front side plate 50 at the inclined position, conveys the sheet bundle to the horizontal position, separates the sheet bundle at the horizontal position, and returns to the inclined position.

Next, the drive configuration of the transport gripper 12 will be described (FIGS. 17 and 18). 17 is a top view and FIG. 18 is a front sectional view.

First, driving in the left-right direction of FIGS. 17 and 18 and in the sheet bundle conveying direction (stacking direction) will be described.

The transport gripper 12 has two
It is supported by book shafts 77, 78. One shaft 77 is a ball screw, and the other shaft 78 is a normal shaft. Both ends of the shaft 77 are rotatably supported between the front and rear side plates (the front side plate is omitted; the rear side plate 60), and the shaft 78 is supported.
Both ends of are completely fixed. A guide roller 79 is caulked on each side plate, and the roller 79 is a unit side plate 5.
It can move to the left and right along the elongated hole 51a formed in 1.

The transport gripper left and right moving motor M8 is attached to the unit side plate 51, and the motor pulley 8
Drive is transmitted to the penetrating shaft 83 via 0, the belt 81, and the pulley 82. A driving pulley 84 is attached to each of the front side and the rear side on the penetrating shaft 83, and a belt 86 is stretched between the driven pulleys 85 facing each other. A part of the belt 86 is attached to the rear plate 60 by the regulating member 87.
By being fixed to the upper side, the drive of the motor M8 is transmitted to the transport gripper 12 and can be moved in the left and right directions in FIGS. 12 and 13.

Next, driving in the vertical direction of FIG. 17, that is, in the direction orthogonal to the sheet bundle conveyance will be described.

A transport gripper forward / backward motor M9 is mounted on the rear side plate 60 via a base 88. Motor M via motor pulley 89, belt 90, and pulley 91
The drive of 9 is transmitted to the ball screw shaft 77. Since a similar screw is also cut on a portion of the transport gripper 12 that is engaged with the ball screw shaft 77, the transport gripper 12 can be moved forward and backward by rotating the ball screw shaft 77.

The position of the transport gripper 12 is determined by detecting its home position and the rotation amount of the motor M8. In the left-right direction, the projection 8 above the regulating member 87
7a is detected by the home position sensor S7, the amount of movement is detected by the sensor S8 that reads the encoder 92 of the motor M8, and stopped at a predetermined position.

On the other hand, when the transport gripper 12 moves forward and backward, the home position sensor S9 detects the minus part of the transport gripper 12 and the sensor S for reading the encoder 93 of the motor M9.
The amount of movement is detected by 10 and the transport gripper 1 is moved to a predetermined position.
Stop 2.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a control device (CPU) 270 for controlling the operation of each of the above parts is provided.

Based on the above configuration, the operation of each component will be described below. First, the basic operation of the device will be described.

First, an original 207 is set on the original placing table 206 of the automatic original feeder 202 provided in the copying machine main body 201 (FIG. 1), and a predetermined mode condition is input by an operation unit (not shown), The start key is pressed. Each unit of the sheet processing apparatus 203 is controlled to be in a standby state in response to the start key pressing signal. Hereinafter, description will be given separately for each mode condition.

(A) Non-sort mode In FIGS. 2 and 26, the deflector 3 is in the direction of the solid line,
The deflector 4 is positioned in the direction of the broken line, and the roller pairs 8a, 8 existing from the first transport path 1 to the carry-out path 6 are present.
The motor M14 is controlled so that b and 8c rotate (FIG. 26). Of course, the roller pair in the upper part of the folding device 204 is also rotated by the folding motor M17 (not shown), and the sheet can be received.

However, the standby operation may be performed after the copying operation described below and before the sheet is discharged from the copying machine main body 201. When the sheet processing apparatus 203 side is in the standby state, the document 207 of FIG. 1 is fed onto the platen glass 208 of the copying machine main body 201 by the automatic document feeder 202, and the copying machine main body 201 enters the copying operation.

The first sheet S that has undergone image formation processing in the copying machine main body 201 and is discharged passes through the upper path of the folding device 204 and enters the stapling / stacking device 205 from the sheet carry-in port 215. The sheet S is deflected vertically upward by the deflector 3, is conveyed vertically upward on the right side of the deflector 4, and is discharged by the discharge roller pair 8c to the non-sort tray 5.
Discharged to the top.

(B) Case of Sort Mode Although special control may be performed depending on the sheet condition and the mode setting condition, the operation in the general sort mode will be described.

First, as a standby operation, the deflector 3 is positioned in the direction of the solid line and the deflector 4 is also positioned in the direction of the solid line, and the rollers 228, 229, 231, 232 of the upper path 204 (see FIG. 33) of the folding device 204 are positioned. And the roller pairs 8a, 8b, 8d to 8g rotate. The upper and lower bin modules B ₁ and B ₂ are shifted so that the uppermost bins B ₁₁ and B ₂₁ are located at positions facing the discharge roller pairs 8g and 8p. Matching wall 15 of each bin module B ₁ , B ₂ (see FIG.
(See) waits at the home position corresponding to the width of the seat S.

Since the guide member for origami is not operated, it is checked that it is in the retracted position where it does not project to the bin side. Further, regarding the drive of the bin standing portion, the control device 270 checks that it is in the inoperative position.

The grip / stapling unit 9 moves to a position (position indicated by a broken line in FIG. 2) corresponding to the sheet bundle removal of the upper bin module B _{1 and} stands by.

The movable body in the grip / staple unit 9 will be described with reference to FIG. The first-out gripper 10 stands by at the position shown in FIG. 12 so as not to obstruct the sheet on the bin when the bin is moved up and down in the bin module located on the left side of the grip / staple unit 9.

Since the stapler 11 is not operated,
In 2, the robot moves to the front retracted position 11a indicated by the broken line. As shown by the broken line in FIG. 12, the transport gripper 12 grips the approximate center of the conveyed sheet bundle in the arrow F direction, and in the arrow G direction, the sheet advanced by the advance gripper 10 is advanced. The tip of the bundle stands by at a grippable position 12a.

The grippers of both the first-out gripper 10 and the transport gripper 12 stand by at the respective positions with the upper and lower grippers open.

Next, the stack unit 13 moves to the position shown by the broken line in FIG. 2 and can receive the sheet bundle conveyed by the grip / staple unit 9. In FIG. 23, the stack tray 116 inside the stack unit 13, the reference wall 117, and the pressing member 118 are positioned such that the upper surface of the stack tray 116 can receive the sheet bundle, and other positions corresponding to the stack tray 116. Moving. As shown in FIG. 23, the tip of the pressing member 118 is in a state of protruding toward the stack tray 116 side.

As described above, the sheet post-processing device 203 side is in the standby state, the original 207 is fed, the image is formed, and the sheet is fed, as in the non-sort mode. In FIG. 2, the first sheet passes through the upper path of the folding device 204, enters from the sheet carry-in port 215, is conveyed vertically upward by the deflector 3, and further leftward by the deflector 4, and is discharged to the bin B ₁₁ by the discharge roller pair 8 g. Discharged on top.

[0073] detects that the sheet discharge sensor S18 in the first sheet to the bin B ₁₁ in the sheet is discharged, the entire bottle is shifted to one bin upwards, the bin B ₁₂ rises in sea Bok stowed position. When the sheets of the same image are discharged to all the bins of the upper bin module B ₁ by repeating the above operation, the document 20
7 is replaced, and an image is formed on the second document 207. In the bins of the upper bin module B ₁ , the lowermost bin (B _{16 in} FIG. 2) is at the sheet accommodation position, and the second sheet is accommodated in order from the lowermost bin B ₁₆ . The above operation is repeated for all originals 207, and the operation of accommodating the sheets in the bin is completed. In this end state, if the number of originals is odd, the lowermost bin B ₁₆ is at the sheet storage position, and if the number of originals is even, the uppermost bin B ₁₁ is at the sheet storage position.

Next, the operation of taking out the sheet bundle from the bin is started. In the present embodiment, the upper bin module B is used.
_{In 1} , the take-out position of the sheet bundle, that is, the grip / staple unit 9 is on standby at a position two bins below the sheet storage position. Therefore,
The control of the stack take-out order changes depending on whether the number of originals is odd or even.

(B)-(i) When the number of originals is an even number If the number of originals is an even number, the bin position after completion of sorting will be the same as at the start, and the state is as shown in FIG. In this case, do not take out from the bin B _{13 at} the bundle take-out position,
First, lowering by 2 bins to the state of FIG. 28, the uppermost bin B ₁₁
To the bottom bin B _{16 in} sequence (Fig. 2
9).

Next, the upper bin module B ₁ is raised by 2 bins to the state shown in FIG. 30, and the preparation for receiving the next sheet bundle is completed. Upper bin module B ₁ for continuous jobs
Even when the next sheet accepts sheets, the number of originals is even, so if sorting is started in the state of FIG.
Sorting ends in the state of 0. In this case, since there is no bin corresponding to the bundle take-out position, the upper bin module B ₁ is lowered by 2 bins to the state shown in FIG. 29, and the bundle is taken out from the lowermost bin B ₁₆ to the uppermost bin B _{11 in} order. Do. At this time, the state shown in FIG. 28 is entered, so that the state of FIG. Therefore, the upper bin module B ₁
When the sheet bundle is repeatedly received a plurality of times to receive the sheet bundle, the state change described above is repeated.

(B)-(ii) When the number of originals is odd If the number of originals is odd, the bin position after the sorting is completely opposite to that at the start. That is, if the sorting is started from the state of FIG. 27, the state is that of FIG. 30 at the end. At this time, since there is no bin corresponding to the bundle take-out, the bins are lowered by 2 bins and the state shown in FIG. 29 is set, and the bundle is taken out in order from the lowermost bin B ₁₆ to the uppermost bin B ₁₁ . At this time, since the state shown in FIG. 28 is reached, the bin is raised by 2 bins and the preparation for receiving the next sheet bundle is completed in the state shown in FIG. If the same job, the number of originals is an odd number at the next sheet receiving opportunity, so if sorting is started in FIG. 27, it ends in FIG.
Therefore, also in this case, the above-mentioned state change is repeated.

In the case of the lower bin module B ₂ , in this embodiment, the relationship between the sheet receiving position of the bin and the bundle take-out position is opposite, and the bundle take-out position is located two bins above. There is. Although the bin control in the lower bin module B ₂ will not be described in detail here, it is controlled by repeating the state change in the same manner as in the case of the upper bin module B ₁ described above. The subsequent operation of the sort mode will be described below.

The sheets stacked on the bin are aligned with the reference bars 14a and 14b shown in FIG. 3 by operating the alignment wall 15 in a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance. When sorting and alignment are completed, the first-out gripper 10 that holds the sheet bundle S on the bin is the upper and lower grippers 6 in FIG.
The sheet bundle S is pinched after moving from the solid line position to the broken line position while leaving 6 and 67 open. The bin standing portion Bj shown in FIG. 11 is opened by the solenoid SL1 and the sheet bundle can be conveyed. The sheet bundle is provided with the reference rods 14a and 14b shown in FIG. 4 on the front side and the alignment wall 15 on the back side.
Both sides are regulated by the guide member 53a in FIG. 12, and the bottle surface and the tilted bottle standing surface B are downward in the downward direction.
j, the guide stay 53, and the upper direction are guided by the guide stay 52 and are conveyed rightward in the drawing. And in FIG.
Then, the bundle is transferred between the first-out gripper 10 and the transport gripper 12 at the position indicated by the solid line.

First, the transport gripper 12, which has been left open at the position indicated by the broken line in FIG. 12, holds the substantially central portion of the sheet bundle. Next, the first-out gripper 10 releases the clamp and prepares for the next conveyance. The transport gripper 12 is driven in the right direction of the arrow G in FIG. 12 to transport the sheet bundle in the right direction, and stops at an appropriate position according to the size. In this state, as shown in FIG. 31, the rear end of the sheet bundle S is dropped on the upper surface of the stack tray 116, the left side is regulated by the stacker reference wall 117, and the upper surface of the bundle is driven by the solenoid. It is pressed by the pressing member 118. From this state, the transport gripper 12 is opened, and the leading end of the sheet bundle is also dropped onto the stack tray 116.

At this time, the pressing member 118 has a function of preventing deviation in the falling bundle.

Next, when the second bundle of sheets is being conveyed, the conveyance gripper 12 grasps the approximate center of the sheet bundle,
The operation up to the point where the bundle is transferred between the grippers is the same as that of the first bundle, so only the subsequent operation will be described.

After delivering the bundle, the transport gripper 12 moves by a predetermined amount in the direction of arrow F in FIG. At this time, the reference rods 14a and 14b are set so that the rear end side of the sheet bundle is not restricted.
The aligning wall 15 and the guide member 53a may escape, or the conveying gripper 12 may be moved in the direction of arrow F after the trailing edge of the sheet bundle is completely removed from these width regulating members. Good. By this movement, when stacking the sheet bundle on the stack tray 116, it is possible to identify the sheet bundle from the first sheet bundle. While the sheet is conveyed rightward by the conveying gripper 12, as shown in FIG. 32, before the rear end of the sheet bundle S reaches a predetermined position, the central portion of the sheet bundle S ₂ comes first in the sheet bundle S ₁ on the stack tray 116. If the sheet bundle S ₂ that is being conveyed is dropped on the upper surface of the sheet and continues to be conveyed as it is, the alignment of the already stacked sheet bundle S ₁ may be disturbed. At this time, by pressing the upper surface of the already stacked sheet bundle S ₁ with the pressing member 118 as shown in FIG. 32, the deviation of the already stacked sheet bundle S ₁ can be prevented.

With regard to the sheet bundle stacked on the stack tray 116, the uppermost surface thereof is always detected by the sensor,
The stack tray 116 is gradually lowered and controlled so that the distance between the upper grip / stapling unit 9 and the uppermost stacking surface is always constant.

Regarding the sheet bundle on the stack tray 116, the sheet bundle can be arbitrarily taken out when the stack unit 13 is not in operation. When the operator presses a take-out button (not shown), the stack unit 13 moves to the take-out position, and only the stack take-out cover can be opened and closed.

Further, after the sheet bundle is taken out, the processing can be continued by closing the cover.

(C) Staple sort mode Since the conveyance of the sheet and the sheet bundle is the same as in the sort mode described above, the description thereof will be omitted. Here, movement control of the stapler 11 will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 12 and 19, the stapler 11 can be stopped at any position between the front retracted position 11a and the rear retracted position 11b.

(C)-(i) Single front binding mode In the non-stapling mode, the stapler 11 was at the front retracted position 11a, but when the front single binding mode is selected, the stapler 11 11 is shown in FIG. 12 and FIG.
Stand by at position 11c shown in FIG. As shown in FIG.
Even if the stapler is at the position 11c, the transport gripper 12
Since they are at the position 12a, they can stand by without interfering with each other. After the stapler 11 performs the stapling operation on the sheet bundle conveyed by the first-out gripper 10,
The sheet bundle is moved to the retracted position 11a on the front side, and then the sheet bundle is conveyed to the right by the conveying gripper 12. When the trailing edge of the sheet bundle comes out of the moving area of the staple 11, the stapler 11 moves again to the single binding position 11c,
Wait for the next stack of sheets.

(C)-(ii) In the case of binding at two places The binding positions at two positions are various depending on the size in the width direction of the sheet bundle, but the two positions are stapler positions 11d and 11e shown in FIGS. 12 and 19. It is assumed that there is a size in which is the binding position. Also in this case, as shown in FIG. 12, even if the stapler is located at any of the positions 11d and 11e, it does not interfere with the position 12a of the transport gripper 12. At the time of standby for binding in two places, the stapler 11 is in the retracted position 1 on the front side.
It moves from 1a to two driving positions 11d on the front side and waits. At this time, the transport gripper 12 is moved to the position 1 indicated by the solid line.
Wait at 2b.

When the sheet bundle is conveyed by the first-out gripper 10, the stapler 11 staples one position on the front side at the position 11d while the first-out gripper 10 holds the sheet bundle. Next, the stapler 11 moves to the position 11e and staples the two positions on the back side. As soon as the stapler 11 moves from the position 11d to the position 11e, the transport gripper 12 immediately moves from the standby position 12b to the holding position 1.
Enter 2a. Then, the transport gripper 12 holds the sheet bundle, while the first-out gripper 10 releases the sheet bundle. The stapler 11 performs the second stapling operation at the position 11e and then moves to the retracted position 11b on the back side.

When the trailing end of the first bundle of sheets passes through the stapler moving region, the stapler 11 moves from the retracted position 11b to the staple position 11e on the far side and receives the second bundle of sheets. This time, after hitting the back side of two places first, it moves to the position 11d in front. Transport gripper 12
Like the first bundle, waits at the position 12b until the stapler 11 moves to the first position and moves to the second position.
After moving to 2a and waiting for the retracting operation of the stapler 11 to the front, the bundle of sheets is conveyed. As mentioned above,
When binding in two places, the retracted position 11a of the stapler 11,
By alternating 12b with the front and the back, the processing time is shortened.

(C)-(iii) In the case of binding at one place in the back In this case, only the back side of the paper size center is bound. The retreat position 11b on the side and the binding position are reciprocated.

(D) Folding Mode Also in the folding mode, a sheet relatively long in the conveying direction is subjected to a folding operation inside the folding device 204 shown in FIG. The sheet is discharged to the upper side, selectively post-processed, and stacked on the stack unit 13.

The schematic structure has been shown above, but the detailed structure of the other parts will be described below for reference.

First, the upper bin module B ₁ and the lower bin module B ₂ will be described.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the upper bin module B ₁ . Hereinafter, the upper bin module B ₁ will be described, but the lower bin module B ₂ has the same configuration.

The upper bin module B ₁ mainly consists of bins B ₁₁ to
B _1n and two reference rods 14a and 14b, an alignment wall 15, lead cams 16a, 16b and 16c for moving the bin up and down, and a drive unit thereof. Reference rod 14a,
Reference numeral 14b is a member that determines a reference line for post-processing such as stapling on the sheet discharged onto the bin.
Normally, it is set to be slightly retracted from the position of the end portion when the sheet is discharged. The aligning wall 15 moves the sheets discharged onto the bin one by one in the direction perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction (the direction of arrow A in the figure), and the opposite ends are moved to the reference bars 14a and 14b. Butt and match.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the upper bin module B ₁ , and the lead cams 16a, 16b and 16c are shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, one bottle is arranged on the front side and two bottles are arranged on the rear side of the bottle, and a spiral lead cam is provided on the outer circumference. The lead cam has rollers Ba, Bb, B protruding from the bin.
Each time c is engaged and each lead cam makes one revolution in synchronization, the bin is moved up and down by a predetermined pitch.

As shown in FIG. 4, the bottle has a notch Bd corresponding to the reference rod 14a and a hole Be corresponding to the matching wall 15, and a notch Bf for a gripper, which will be described later. A notch Bg for the bin standing drive mechanism and a notch Bh necessary for operation are formed.

FIG. 5A is a front view of the upper bin module B ₁ . As shown in the figure, the respective bins are arranged parallel to each other with a certain inclination with respect to the horizontal. On the other hand, the roller portions Ba, Bb, Bc of the bottle are all configured to have the same height when the bottle is inclined. That is, the position of the roller portion Bb near the right side of the bin is near the reference plane of the bin, whereas the position of the roller portion Bc near the left side of the bin is considerably below the reference plane of the bin, and Bc is connected to the bottle by a V-shaped fixed arm.

As a result, the bin B ₁₅ shown in FIG.
Even when adjacent bins such as B ₁₆ approach each other, the interference of the arm portions can be avoided. Further, since the roller portions Ba, Bb, Bc are all at the same height, the lead cams 16a, 16c
The positions of b and 16c in the height direction can be set to the same height, and the overall size can be reduced. That is, as compared with the case where the rollers Ba, Bb, and Bc are provided near the thick portion of each bottle as shown in FIG. 5B, the size l ₁₆ minutes shown in FIG. it can.

Next, the bin interval will be described with reference to FIG. 5A as an example. FIG. 5 shows the upper bin module B _{1. In} the figure, the second bin B ₁₂ from the top is the discharge roller pair 8.
Receive the sheet that is in the position corresponding to g and is ejected.
On the other hand, the fourth bin B ₁₄ from the top is at the bundle discharge position, and when the sheet discharge to the bin B ₁₄ is completed, the bins are sequentially shifted to this position to discharge the bundle from each bin. FIG. 5 (a)
So until the bin B ₁₁ .about.B ₁₅ is greater each bin interval and l _17, but smaller and l ₁₈ only during the bin B _15, B _16, between bins varies depending on the situation. In FIG. 6, the bin B ₁₆ is at the sheet receiving position and the bin is shifted to the uppermost position. At this time, the bin interval is small at l ₁₈ from the bins B _{11 to} B ₁₅ , and the bin interval is between the bins B ₁₅ and B _16. only large in l _17.

Further, in FIG. 7, the bin B ₁₁ is in the bundle discharging position, and the bin is shifted to the lowest position. At this time, the bin interval is large at l ₁₇ only between the bins B ₁₁ and B ₁₂ , and otherwise l ₁₈
And small. That is, the interval between the bottles in the sheet receiving position and the bottle thereon is greater about l _17, also above and below the bin and the bin in the bundle discharging position should have as large as l ₁₇ intervals. In FIG. 5, bins B ₁₁ and B
₁₂ between bins, between bins B ₁₃ and B _{14, and} between bins B ₁₄ and B ₁₅ . In FIG. 5, the interval between the bins B ₁₂ and B ₁₃ is also large, but this may be functionally as small as about ₁₈ , and the size of the interval is determined by the relationship between the upper half space of the stapler 11 and the bin interval. It

On the other hand, in the case of the lower bin module B ₂ ,
As can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2, the sheet receiving position and the bundle discharging position are upside down from those of the upper bin module B ₁ . Therefore, in the same way, in FIG. 2, the bin B ₂₄ in the sheet receiving position and the upper bin B ₂₃ in the sheet receiving position are shown.
And the distance between them is as large as about ₁₇ and the bin B at the stack discharge position
The distance between ₂₂ and the upper and lower bins B ₂₁ and B ₂₃ also needs to be as large as about l _17, but the distance between the bins B ₂₄ and B ₂₅ need not be as large as l ₁₇ .

However, by increasing the distance between the bins B ₂₄ and B _{25 to} about l ₁₇ , the sheet receiving position and the bundle discharging position are reversed, so that the upper module B ₁ and the lower bin module B ₂
The bin intervals of and are the same. That is, the pitch of the lead cams 16a, 16b, 16c that determine the bin interval may be the same, and the upper and lower lead cams 16a, 16b, 16c may be the same.
There is a merit of standardization. In addition, the fact that the sheet receiving position and the bundle discharging position are opposite between the upper bin module B ₁ and the lower bin module B ₂ has another advantage that the grid / stapler unit 9 and the stack unit 13 can be made common when taking out a sheet. is there.

Next, the bin shift driving will be described (FIGS. 4 and 5).

The bin shift motor M1 is a motor pulley 1
8 and belt 19, lead cam pulleys 20a, 20b,
The drive is synchronously transmitted to the lead cams 16a, 16b, 16c by the 20c, and the forward and reverse rotations are performed.
16b and 16c can be rotated once, and the bin can be moved up and down by the cam pitch. Lead cam 16
The shafts of a, 16b, and 16c are rotatably supported by bearings, and the drive is transmitted from pulleys 20a, 20b, and 20c attached to one side thereof.
The bin shift motor M1 has an encoder 21 on the side opposite to the pulley 18, and the sensor S1 detects one rotation.

In addition, each bin module B ₁ and B ₂ has
There is a home position detection sensor S2 (not shown) for the bins, which detects that the respective top bins B ₁₁ and B ₂₁ are in their respective sheet receiving positions. Further, each bin module B ₁ , B ₂ has a penetration sensor S3 (FIG. 2) for detecting the sheet on the bin, and detects the presence or absence of the sheet on the bin to detect each bin module B ₁ , B ₂ The timing of switching is determined.

Next, the alignment wall 1 for aligning the sheets on the bin
The drive configuration of No. 5 will be described (FIGS. 8 and 9). FIG.
[FIG. 9] is a top view of the matching wall drive unit, and FIG. 9 is a front view.

A caulking shaft 22 is caulked on the alignment wall 15, and the caulking shaft 22 penetrates a U-shaped support plate 23 and is stopped. On the other hand, a compression spring 24 is installed inside the U-shaped support plate 23 while being slightly biased in the compression direction. One side of the compression spring 24 is provided on the inner wall of the support plate 23 and the other side is provided on the caulking shaft 22. It is abutted against the stopper 25. The caulking shaft 22 and the matching wall 15 are biased downward in FIG. 8 by the force of the compression spring 24.

The lower side of the U-shaped support plate 23 is fixed to the moving side of the accuride 27 via the slide plate 26, and the fixed side of the accuride 27 extends to the sliding direction of the aligning wall 15. It is fixed to the plate 28. Caulking shafts 29 and 30 stand on the front side and the back side of the accurride rail plate 28, and a pulley gear 31 and a pulley 32 are rotatably attached to the caulking shafts 29 and 30, respectively.
A timing belt 33 is passed between the pulley gear 31 and the pulley 32, and the slide plate 26 is fixed to the timing belt 33. On the other hand, the matching wall drive motor M2
The driving force is transmitted by engaging the motor gear 34 of the above with the gear portion of the pulley gear 31.

The home position of the matching wall 15 is
It is detected by the sensor S4. U-shaped support plate 2
A slide member 35 is attached above 3
It is engaged with and guided by the recess of the fixed rail 36.
In FIG. 9, the drive is entered from below the alignment wall 15 and the upper part is guided by the rail, but it may be configured upside down. In addition, the upper bin module B ₁ and the lower bin module B
Configuration of the matching wall _2, may also be placed how driven in the reverse.

Next, the drive configuration of the bin standing portion forming the alignment surface in the transport direction on the bin will be described (FIGS. 10 and 11).

This is to move the bin standing when the sheet bundle stacked on the bin is conveyed in the bin standing direction from the bin for post-processing and stacking. FIG.
0 is a top view and FIG. 11 is a front view.

The bin B includes a sheet stacking section Bi and a matching section B.
The rotating shaft on the aligning portion Bj side is fitted into the rotating hole on the stacking portion Bi side to form the aligning portion B.
j is rotatable. The rotation angle of the matching portion Bj is
As shown in FIG. 11, the aligning surface, which stands at a right angle with respect to the fixed loading surface, can be rotated at approximately 90 ° until it becomes substantially flush with the loading surface. Normally, a spring or the like is urged so that the alignment surface is perpendicular to the loading surface (solid line in FIG. 11). This spring has a strength such that the aligning portion Bj does not fall down even with the weight of the sheet bundle on the bin. A drive arm 45 is attached to the back side of the matching section Bj. A pin 45a is erected at the tip of the drive arm 45.

The bin stand-up drive solenoid SL1 has a base 4
6 is supported on. A link 47 is swingably supported on the base 46, and one end of an arm 48 is engaged with a pin 47a on the link 47. The other end of the arm 48 is attached to the solenoid SL1 and the solenoid SL1 operates to move the link 47 from the solid line portion to the two-dot chain line portion. The pin contact member 4 is attached to the tip of the link 47.
7b is attached, but in a normal state, the pin contact member 47b and the pin 45a are separated from each other, and do not interfere with the lifting operation of the bin B. When the sheet discharge onto the bin is finished and the sheet bundle in the bin is post-processed and stacked, the corresponding bin shifts to the position of FIG. 11 and the solenoid SL1 is operated. The pin abutting member 47b abuts the pin 45a, and the link 47 further swings to move the aligning portion Bj to the position indicated by the alternate long and two short dashes line in FIG.
When the solenoid SL1 is turned off, the link 47 returns to the original solid line position by the action of the spring 49, and correspondingly the aligning portion Bj also returns to the position orthogonal to the loading surface.

Next, the forward / backward drive of the stapler 11 will be described (FIGS. 19 and 20). FIG. 19 is a left view of the stapler driving unit, and FIG. 20 is a top view.

In FIG. 19, the stapler 11 is a base 9
It is fixed on 4. A slider 95 is attached above the base 94. 2 for slider 95
There are bearings at four places to pass the shaft of the book.
The two shafts of the shafts 96 and 97 are connected to the front and rear side plates 50 and 51 of the unit.
By fixing the stapler 11 between them, the stapler 11 is suspended and supported by two axes. A motor base 98 is attached to the unit rear side plate 51 side, and a stapler forward / backward motor M10 is attached.
Is fixed. Motor gear 99, motor pulley 10
0, the driven pulley 101 and the belt 102 passed between the pulleys 100, 101, the drive of the motor M10 is transmitted, and this drive is performed by the stapler via the slider 95 fixed to the belt 102 by the regulating member 103. 1
Informed to unit 1. This allows the staple unit to move in the direction of arrow J in FIG. The stapler 11 can be stopped at any position between the retracted position 11a on the front side and the retracted position 11b on the back side. The position of the stapler 11 is set by the motor M10 based on the detection by the front position sensor S11 or the rear position sensor S12.
It is determined by reading the encoder 104 of the sensor S13.

Next, the structure of the stack unit 13 will be described (FIG. 21, FIG. 23, FIG. 24). 21 is a top view of the stack unit 13, FIG. 23 is a front view of the stack frame portion, and FIG. 24 is a left view.

First, in FIG. 21, the stack frame 105, which is the outer frame of the stack unit 13, is composed of four parts, namely a rear side plate 105a, then a left side plate 105b, a right side plate 105c, and a bottom plate 105d. Two elevating rollers 106 are attached to each of the outer surfaces of the left and right side plates 105b and 105c of the outer frame 105, a total of four, which are guided by rails 107 fixed to the main body. The rail 107 may be the same member as the rail 56 of the grip / staple unit 9 shown in FIG.

21 and 24, the left and right side plates 105
A chain 109 is fixed to a bent portion on the inner side of b and 105c by a fixing plate, and the left and right chains 109 are passed between upper and lower sprockets 110 and 111, respectively. The lower sprocket 111 is connected by a penetrating shaft 112, and the driving of the stack frame lifting motor M11 fixed to the main body side is driven by the gears 113 and 114.
2, and the stack frame 105 is moved up and down.

Normally, the stack frame 105 is stopped at two stop positions of the grip / staple unit 9 shown in FIG. 2 (the upper broken line portion and the lower solid line portion).
In addition to the two stop positions corresponding to, the stacker tray withdrawal position and the stacker limit number of sheets to be described later are set at a plurality of places. Normally, the stack frame 105
Has a home position corresponding to the upper bin module B ₁ . Returning to FIG. 21, by reading the encoder 115 of the motor M11 with the sensor S14, it is possible to stop at the various set positions.

Left side plate 105b of the stack frame 105
A stacker reference wall 117, which serves as a reference wall for the sheet bundle on the stack tray 116, is supported so that it can be moved up and down, and a pressing member 118 that presses the sheet bundle on the stack tray 116 from above is also supported.

The stacker reference wall 117 is normally located at the lower side, and moves upward to correspond to the change of the stacker limit number which will be described later.

The structure for raising and lowering the stack frame 105 is as follows.
As shown in FIG. 21, rails 120, 121 fixed to the stack frame left side plate 105b are provided with a total of four rollers 119, two on the stacker reference wall 117 side and two on the front side.
And is vertically movable by being driven by a motor M12 for raising and lowering (not shown). As shown in FIGS. 21 and 23, the guide roller 117 is provided on the stacker reference wall 117.
a is rotatably supported so that the rear end of the sheet bundle does not remain on the upper inclined surface 117b of the stacker reference wall 117.

Further, a proximity prevention sensor S16 is attached to the upper end of the stacker reference wall 117, detects the distance between the stack unit 13 and the upper gripper / stapling unit 9, and approaches a certain distance or less. When this happens, control is performed to stop the drive in the approaching direction of each other to prevent interference. A stack height detection sensor S17 is attached to the side surface of the stacker reference wall 117, and the sensor S17 detects the stack top sheet to control the height of the stack tray 116 and the like.

Next, the pressing member 118 will be described with reference to FIG.

The pressing member 118 is the stack tray 116.
By pressing the upper sheet stack S, in addition to the function of preventing the already stacked sheets from being disturbed by the stack to be stacked on the stack tray 116 next,
It has two functions of preventing a shift of the stack stacked on top of the stack when the stack is dropped.

Next, the stack tray 116 will be described (FIGS. 21 and 22). FIG. 22 is a front view of the stack tray portion.

The stack tray 116 is gradually lowered inside the stack frame 105 so that the upper surface of the stack is always maintained.

In FIGS. 21 and 22, 128 is a rail fixed to both side plates of the stack frame 105.
The stack tray 116 is configured so that it can be pulled out from the stack tray base 129 by means of the accurride 130. U-shaped roller receiving plates 131 are attached to both end surfaces of the stack tray base 129, and two rollers 132 are respectively crimped and guided by rails 128. A rack is vertically formed at one end of the rail 128, and is engaged with pinion gears 134 attached to both ends of a penetrating shaft 133 that laterally penetrates the stack tray base 129. The stack tray lifting motor M13 is attached to the stack tray base 129 by a motor base 135, and gears 136 and 137 are attached.
Drive is input to the through shaft 133. Motor M1
An encoder 138 is attached to the other end of 3, and the amount of lowering of the stack tray 116 is controlled by reading with the sensor S15.

Next, the drive configuration of the transport system will be described (FIG. 26). FIG. 26 is a schematic diagram of the drive configuration, in which the hatched side of each roller pair is the drive input shaft, and the other side is the driven side. The drive system is roughly divided into three systems.

First, the carry motor M14 is driven by the side closer to the main body of the copying machine, and transmits it to the vertical modules and the non-sort path after branching. Corresponding roller pairs are 7 pairs of 8a to 8c and 8h to 8k.

Next, the carry motor M15 receives the horizontal path of the upper module path and supplies the drive to the four roller pairs 8d to 8g.

Next, the carry motor M16 takes charge of the horizontal path of the lower module path and supplies the drive to the five roller pairs 8l to 8p via the pulleys 140, 141 and the like.

The feature of the present invention described above is that the moving speed of the first-out gripper 10 shown in FIG. 12 in the direction of arrow D when the number of sheets stacked in each bin is large or the length of the sheets in the stacking direction is long. And to reduce the moving speed of the transport gripper 12 in the arrow G direction. This is to prevent the alignment of a plurality of sheets from being disturbed by the movement and causing a bundle deviation.

As shown in the block diagram of FIG. 36, the control device 270 has a stacking number detecting means 301 for detecting the number of stacked sheets on each bin, and a sheet size detecting means 302 for similarly detecting the length in the stacking direction of sheets. , Gripper and stapler speed switching means 303 are connected. Further, a first-out motor M for moving the first-out gripper 10 in the arrow D direction.
7 and the transport gripper 12 for moving the transport gripper 12 in the direction of the arrow G, for example, "fast",
It is possible to switch to two stages of "slow", and this switching is performed by the speed switching means 303 described above.

Regarding the number of stacked sheets, for example, 2
A predetermined threshold value is set between 0 and 30 sheets. Then, when the number-of-loaded-sheets detecting unit 301 detects the number of sheets equal to or less than the threshold value, the above-described both motors M7 and M are transmitted via the control device 270.
Set 8 to "fast". On the other hand, the number of loaded sheets detecting means 30
When 1 detects the number of sheets exceeding the threshold value, both motors M7 and M8 are set to "slow" through the control device 270 as well. In addition, about the threshold value between the above-mentioned 20-30 sheets, the thickness detection means (not shown) which detects the thickness of a sheet | seat.
May be provided and set according to the thickness of the sheet.

Regarding the length of the sheets in the stacking direction, when the sheet size is large, for example, in the case of laterally passing A3 or B4, the length in the stacking direction becomes long. In this case, the two motors M7 and M8 described above are Switch to "slow". In other cases, set to “fast”.

Further, it is more effective to switch between "fast" and "slow" of the motors M7 and M8 in consideration of both the number of stacked sheets and the length in the carrying direction.

[0142]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When pulling out a plurality of sheets stacked on the sheet receiving member by the moving means, if the number of stacked sheets exceeds a predetermined value or the length in the sheet stacking direction is long, the moving speed of the moving means is slowed down. By doing so, it is possible to effectively prevent the misalignment of a plurality of sheets and the sheet misalignment due to this movement.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional front view of a sheet folding apparatus according to the present invention and an image forming apparatus including the sheet folding apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional front view of the sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the bin module.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the bin module.

FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are front views of the same bin module.

FIG. 6 is an operation diagram of the same bottle.

FIG. 7 is an operation diagram of the same bottle.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the matching wall driving unit.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the matching wall drive unit.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the bin standing portion drive unit.

FIG. 11 is a front view of the bin standing portion drive unit.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of the grip / staple unit.

FIG. 13 is a front view of the grip / staple unit.

FIG. 14 is a front view of the gripper portion.

FIG. 15 is a plan view of the first-out gripper driving unit.

FIG. 16 is a front view of the first-out gripper driving unit.

FIG. 17 is a plan view of the transport gripper driving unit.

FIG. 18 is a front view of the transport gripper driving unit.

FIG. 19 is a left side view of the staple unit driving portion in FIG.

FIG. 20 is a plan view of the staple unit driving portion.

FIG. 21 is a plan view of the stack unit.

FIG. 22 is a side view of the stack tray.

FIG. 23 is a side view of the stack unit.

FIG. 24 is a left side view of the drive unit of the stack unit in FIG.

FIG. 25 is a side view of the stack pressing member.

FIG. 26 is a schematic diagram of a drive system of the transport system.

FIG. 27 is a front view showing the operation of the same bottle.

FIG. 28 is a front view showing the operation of the bottle.

FIG. 29 is a front view showing the same operation of the bottle.

FIG. 30 is a front view showing the operation of the same bottle.

FIG. 31 is an operation diagram which similarly shows the effect of the stack pressing member.

FIG. 32 is an operation diagram which similarly shows the effect of the stack pressing member.

FIG. 33 is a front view of the folding device.

34 (a) and 34 (b) are front views of the folding device similarly showing the operation in the C-folding mode.

FIGS. 35 (a) and 35 (b) are front views of the folding device similarly showing the operation in the Z-folding mode.

FIG. 36 is a block diagram showing a configuration for changing the moving speed of a sheet.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 first moving device (first-out gripper) 12 second moving device (conveying gripper) 201 image forming apparatus main body (copier main body) 203 sheet processing device 204 sheet folding device 205 staple / stack device 270 control means (control device, CPU) 301 stacked sheet number detection unit 302 sheet size detection unit 303 gripper and stapler speed switching unit B ₁ sheet stacking unit (upper bin module) B ₂ sheet stacking unit (lower bin module) B _1n sheet receiving member (bin) B _2n sheet Receiving member (bin) M7 First moving means (first-out motor) M8 Second moving means (conveyor gripper left-right moving motor) S Sheet

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A sheet sorting apparatus having a plurality of sheet receiving members and stacking a plurality of sorted sheets on each of the sheet receiving members, wherein at least two sheets each having the plurality of sheet receiving members are provided. A stacking unit, a sheet stacking unit that stacks sheets for each of the sheet receiving members, a stacked sheet number detecting unit that detects the number of stacked sheets stacked on each sheet receiving member, and each sheet receiving member A part of the plurality of sheets stacked in the front and back directions, and a moving means that draws out from the sheet receiving member, and the sheet stacking means and the moving means are controlled, and Control means for stacking sheets on the sheet receiving member and pulling out the sheets from the sheet receiving member. The tier reduces the moving speed of the moving means when the number of stacked sheets detected by the stacked sheet number detecting means exceeds a predetermined value. 2. A sheet sorting apparatus having a plurality of sheet receiving members and stacking a plurality of sorted sheets on each of the sheet receiving members, wherein at least two or more sheets each having the plurality of sheet receiving members. A stacking unit, a sheet stacking unit that stacks sheets for each sheet receiving member, a sheet size detecting unit that detects a stacking direction length of a sheet stacked on each sheet receiving member, and each sheet For each of the sheet stacking units, a moving unit that holds a part of the plurality of sheets stacked on the receiving member from the front and back directions and draws the sheet from the sheet receiving member, and controls the sheet stacking unit and the moving unit. A stacking of sheets on the sheet receiving member and a control means for pulling out the sheet from the sheet receiving member, The sheet sorting apparatus, wherein the control means slows down the moving speed of the moving means when the stacking direction length detected by the sheet size detecting means exceeds a predetermined value. 3. A sheet sorting apparatus having a plurality of sheet receiving members and stacking a plurality of sorted sheets on each of the sheet receiving members, wherein at least two or more sheets each having the plurality of sheet receiving members. A stacking unit, a sheet stacking unit that stacks sheets for each of the sheet receiving members, a stacked sheet number detecting unit that detects the number of stacked sheets stacked on each sheet receiving member, and each sheet receiving member Sheet size detection means for detecting the stacking direction length of the sheets stacked on top, and a movement for holding a part of the plurality of sheets stacked on each of the sheet receiving members from the front and back directions and pulling out from the sheet receiving member Means, the sheet stacking means, and the moving means to control the sheet stacking unit for each sheet stacking unit. A control means for stacking the sheets and pulling out the sheets from the sheet receiving member, wherein the control means detects the number of stacked sheets detected by the stacked sheet number detecting means and the stacking direction detected by the sheet size detecting means. A sheet sorting apparatus, wherein the moving speed of the moving means is slowed when the length has a predetermined relationship. 4. A thickness detecting means for detecting the thickness of sheets stacked on the sheet receiving member, wherein the control means is based on an output of the thickness detecting means,
The sheet sorting apparatus according to claim 1 or 3, wherein a predetermined value for the number of stacked sheets is changed. 5. A first moving device, wherein the moving means holds a part of a plurality of sheets on the sheet receiving member from the front and back directions to project the leading end of the sheet from the sheet receiving member, 5. A second moving device that nips and conveys a part of the plurality of sheets transferred from one moving means from the front and back directions, and the second moving device is included. Sheet sorter. 6. The staple device according to claim 1, further comprising a stapling device configured to staple the leading end portion of the sheet projected from the sheet receiving member by the first moving means. Sheet sorter. 7. The sheet sorting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a stacking device that stacks the sheets conveyed by the second moving unit. 8. A sheet feeding unit for feeding a sheet, an image forming unit for forming an image on the sheet fed by the sheet feeding unit, and a sheet after image formation by the image forming unit. An image forming apparatus, comprising: the sheet classifying apparatus according to claim 1 for classifying.